HENDERSON, Tenn. --- The Life University men's basketball team found itself down by only a single point going into the halftime break at Mid-South Conference foe Freed-Hardeman, but poor defensive play and the Lions' second half, 64 point, offensive explosion saw the Running Eagles fade late for the 98-81 loss.

The game opened nearly as well as one could wish for Life U (3-7, 0-5 MSC), the team taking an early 10-0 lead following a pair of Cam Horton deep balls and three steals, leading to three scores for Life U. Freed-Hardeman (10-3, 5-1 MSC) made a run of their own to get back into the game, taking a one point lead, 15-14, at the 10:35 mark following a made three. With just over three minutes to play in the half, the Lions' lead had expanded to double-digits, but a Life U run to end the first, sparked by Chris Barnes and ended with a Nathan Presnell putback bucket in the paint saw the teams enter the break, Life U trailing 34-33.

In the second half, Life U retook the lead following another Horton three, 44-41, with 17:26 to play. The Running Eagles maintained their lead until there was less than 10 minutes to go in the game, up by a single point, 62-61, with 9:54 on the clock. From that point, things fell apart for Life U, giving up 37 points over the final nine minutes of the game to suffer its seventh-straight loss.

Scoring for the Running Eagles was dominated by a handful of starters, 70 of the 81 points scored by coming from Barnes, Horton, Jordan Hernandez, and Presnell. Barnes continued to prove himself as a natural scorer, leading the way with 19 points to go with five boards, three assists, and three steals. Horton and Hernandez matched each other with 18 points each, both men doing the majority of their work behind the arc. Horton led with six threes on 11 shots, while Hernandez was an incredibly efficient 5-for-6. The last of the four top-scorers, Presnell put together 15 points to go with a team-high six rebounds.

The Running Eagles had another day of shooting at a high clip, hitting 29-for-54 (53.7%) from the floor and 12-for-22 (54.5%) from deep, but they gave up even greater percentages to the Lions, Freed Hardeman shooting 33-for-58 (56.9%) and 14-for-25 (56.0%), respectively. With the high shooting percentages, neither team collected too many rebounds, but Life U trailed slightly at 26-22.

The men's basketball team stays on the road for its next contest, facing Mid-South Conference foe Bethel (Tenn.) Saturday, December 18th at 5 PM EST.